Organisation versus Renovation

Small satisfying home jobs that make life easier

Today in the UK is one of our Spring Bank Holidays. A day off work and school for many. For some that probably means spending time with family and/or friends, maybe watching some sports, going on walks, relaxing.

At least that’s what I hear. I wouldn’t really know, because usually for me it means a day of pottering at home, possibly some light DIY, and lots of general homebody good times. Plus maybe a glass or two of wine.

There is so much talk about big home renovations and I’m here for it – I’ve done my own and I share about it all the time in magazines, on here, on Instagram.

But often it’s the smaller, more achievable jobs that bring me the most satisfaction. Little jobs around the house that I think about every day, but never quite get around to doing even though I think about them…everyday.

The bald spot in the bare plaster hallway ceiling that fell off and still needs patching.

The gap under my front door that I’ve temporarily covered with (bright pink) gaffer tape but really needs some squirty filler stuff (technical name) to stop the draft/ants coming in. Actually what it needs is a whole new door, but we’re not there yet.

My desk drawer that started out organised but is now filled with lots of outdated phone chargers (thanks Apple), dried up tubes of glue, and -inexplicably - piles of business cards from people I’ve met (do I keep them? Call me old fashioned but I still love a business card).

I don’t want to paint myself as a disorganised person because I’m actually very organised. Maybe not label the shelves in the fridge level organised, but because my job as a stylist involves the movement of lots of ‘stuff’, I have to have systems. But even my systems can get out of synch from time to time, especially when work gets busy. But of course, that’s when I need organisation even more.

The list of small jobs is long. I actually have an ongoing LIST OF SMALL ANNOYING JOBS - official name - stuck on the fridge most of the time. On their own these jobs would each take mere minutes to sort out, maybe an hour or so. But it’s the fact that there are so many that prevents me from even getting started. I feel like you must be able to relate. Please tell me you relate…

But when I cross one off the list, it feels like I’m truly winning at life. Because many of these areas directly affect the efficiency of my life. Maybe not the ceiling plaster or the door gap, but the desk drawer or the disordered linen cupboard or, as you’ll see today, the pantry.

First of all, the fact that I have a pantry tickles me. Before you picture one of those Pinterest perfect walk-in pantries that flooded the internet in recent years, with their cute gingham curtains hung from a worktop to hide the unsightly bits below, a chic wall sconce, and perfectly ordered Kilner jars filled with dried goods, stop right there. That ain’t it.

My pantry – which I love by the way, regardless of its function over form aesthetic (read: not Pinterest worthy) – is a cupboard in the kitchen that used to house an enormous and very old boiler.

2022. That’s a cheese grater the old guy living in the house had put over the flame to replace a missing part. Resourceful.

2025

Now it has my washing machine (no dryer yet, much to my disappointment. I know they’re energy monsters, but I lived in the US for too long to think that hanging clothes on drying racks and radiators all over the house and always having crunchy towels is acceptable), all my non-perishable food on shelves (some in Kilner jars), as well as spices on the inside of the door.

I hadn’t really sorted it properly since shoving things in there a couple of years ago when the renovation happened. It was vaguely organised but no longer worked well and I was always struggling to reach the things I used most frequently.

Last week I had an advertising shoot where we had to dress a kitchen to look lived-in, or at least pretend lived-in. Picture jars of pasta and sugar and beans up on shelves, bowls heaving with fruit, chopping boards piled with vegetables, huge steaming pots of water bubbling away on the hob while the model held a wooden spoon aloft for the camera.

At the end of the shoot I was left me with even more glass jars and non-perishable food and I finally had to deal with the disorder when I got back home.

I gave away a lot to the crew on the shoot day itself – I try not to come home with the same amount of props I leave with – and I gave a lot of the unopened bags of lentils and pasta and oats to a local food bank. But the opened bags of dried food and spices I kept for future shoots. You’d be surprised how often I have to re-buy certain food props for shoots.

And it incentivised me to start from scratch with my own pantry back home, making it a space that worked for me even if it didn’t look hugely different after the purge and sort.

What followed was an especially satisfying couple of hours, emptying the whole lot, decanting the 3 different open packets of cinnamon/oregano/paprika into one (the problem with disorder is you don’t know what you have and so you buy things again and again).

The rarely used items and food props went up high on the top shelf, the spices got loosely alphabetised, the pastas/rices/cereals were grouped together where I could reach them because I do still eat carbs, unlike most Americans I know.

I’ve been enjoying the fruits of my labour ever since, whether I’m reaching for the muesli or looking for turmeric.

Maybe today you’re going to relax or see family or sit in a pub garden and that sounds divine. But if you’re hankering for a bit of a DIY fix but don’t want to get too mucky, maybe tackle a junk drawer, a sock drawer, the food cupboards, the garage.

Creating a home you love isn’t only about how it looks, but how it serves you, how it makes your life easier, more efficient. Looking at Pinterest for inspiration is fun and I do it often for work research and for my own home, but make sure your home also functions for you even if it doesn’t look quite as glossy as those picture perfect rooms.

Remember that super stylish pantry you’re swooning over on Instagram was photographed on its best day, not on a regular day when the coffee grounds spilled and the used tea bags were piled up and the washing machine was spinning.

Thanks for reading. And don’t forget to like the post and/or leave me a comment - I absolutely love reading and replying to them x

I failed to take a photo of the pantry before I emptied it so just picture mild chaos. Don’t try to half-ass this if you do something similar. Take it ALL out. It’s the only way.

So many spices crammed into little crates and shelves and utterly impossible to find what I needed quickly

“Do we have any cinnamon?”

Yes you could use a label maker, but masking tape and a pen on an old jam jar works just as well

There’s a point in any re-organisation job where you’ve got almost all of it placed, but there are a few stragglers making your life difficult

Deep satisfaction. And now I’m thinking I will in fact add a little curtain to hide the washing machine. Gingham? Or is that too obvious?

It’s not Pinterest pretty, but loosely alphabetising the spices has made cooking much easier

The fennel seeds for my greens were so easy to find for my post-organisation lunch. A, B, C, D, E, F…and S for Smug.